Italy | Florence | View from Duomo's Campanile | Dec 2015

Giotto’s Campanile is a free-standing bell tower standing adjacent to the Duomo. The tower is one of the showpieces of the Florentine Gothic architecture with its design by Giotto, its rich sculptural decorations and the polychrome marble encrustations. This slender structure stands on a square plan with a height of 84.7 metres (277.9 ft) sustained by four polygonal buttresses at the corners. These four vertical lines are crossed by four horizontal lines, dividing the tower in five levels. The topmost level can be reached by scaling a total of 414 steps, which affords a panoramic view of the city and surrounding hills.